He's too brittle. Too big of a risk with his drug and alcohol past. Too expensive, particularly over a long-term deal.
Let someone else make the mistake of giving him a seven-year deal for about $175 million, the Rangers muse, but they're sure not about to do something stupid.
Then, along comes a night like Tuesday's historic performance, and the Rangers are perplexed, wondering just what to do about their most popular player, and one of the most talented players in the game.
Hamilton tied a major league record against the Baltimore Orioles with four home runs, set the American League record with 18 total bases, and is now producing at a clip that defies the imagination.
Take a deep breath and check out the numbers yourselves:
- He leads the free world in virtually every offensive category, hitting .406 with 14 homers and 36 RBI.
- That goes along with his .458 on-base percentage, .840 slugging percentage and 89 total bases.
- He has hit more home runs himself than the entire San Diego Padres team.
"It's tough to hit four home runs in BP (batting practice),'' Orioles catcher Matt Wieters told reporters, "and he did it in a game.''
Forget the All-Star home-run derby, let's put Hamilton's batting practice on display for the national TV audience.
This was only the 16th time in major league history that a player hit four homers, the last in 2003 by Carlos Delgado of Toronto. The folks in Baltimore hadn't seen a power-display like this since Rocky Colavito hit four in 1959 against the Orioles.
Hamilton wrote a book back in 2008 called Beyond Belief, but it may be time to republish.
"That's the greatest individual performance I've ever seen," Rangers infielder Michael Young told reporters. "I'm not sure if we'll ever see something like that again.
"Josh is the most talented player in the game. When somebody does something like this it's always shocking, but he's one of the few guys you know are capable of actually doing it."
Hamilton, who has hit five homers in his last six plate appearances, is now on pace to hit 76 homers, eclipsing Barry Bonds' all-time record of 73 homers in 2001.
Impossible, right?
Well, he has already knocked out the impossible, overcoming a deep drug addiction that robbed him of four years of baseball, and nearly killed him.
He was left for the dead by baseball, only for the Cincinnati Reds to work out a deal for him in the 2006 Rule 5 Draft, once the Tampa Bay Rays gave up on him, leaving him off their 40-man roster.
Hamilton, who had played only 15 minor-league games since 2002, hit .292 with 19 homers and 47 RBI in 90 games.
They made the fateful mistake of giving up on him, too, trading him a year later to Texas for starter Edinson Volquez and reliever Danny Herrera.
The trade helped turn around the Rangers' franchise. It won back-to-back American League pennants and is threatening to salt away the AL West Division title by Memorial Day.
Now, the Rangers find themselves in the same predicament.
They flirted all winter with free agent first baseman Prince Fielder, hoping he would anchor their offense, and make it much more palatable to let Hamilton walk away.
The Detroit Tigers came in and blew up the Rangers' plans with a nine-year, $214 million deal.
Now, the way Hamilton, 31, is playing, his next deal may even eclipse Fielder's contract.
"It's truly a miracle," Hamilton told USA TODAY Sports this spring, "that I'm even here in this situation."
The Rangers, buoyed by a $3 billion TV contract, certainly have the finances to keep Hamilton. If they can drop $107 million on Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish, who had never even thrown a pitch in the U.S. until spring training, surely they can reach deep into their pockets to pay a guy who's given his heart and soul to the Rangers for the past four seasons.
The Rangers wouldn't mind making Hamilton one of the highest-paid players in the game, if they somehow had a guarantee that he could stay healthy. He has missed 143 games the last three years. He'll be 31 years old on May 21. And he is a recovering drug addict who has had a couple of publicized drinking binges, including one in January.
Do their follow their heart? Trust their gut? Or stick to their original and conventional thinking?
The Rangers, who have quietly been negotiating with Hamilton, really have no option but to wait.
The price tag is already exorbitant, and for the next six months, nobody else can touch him or talk to him.
This is decision looms as one of the biggest in franchise history. It will have to come after the Rangers' seemingly inevitable foray into October concludes.
